Coupling carrier and centering device.



H. C. BUHOUP. COUPLING CARRIER AND GBNTERING DEVICE.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 13, 1914.

Ru 1 9 1 3 2 .b e F d e b n w a D 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wiltmeooao H. G. BUHOUP. GOU LINGEAEEIEE AND GENTERING DEVICE.APPLICATION FILED AUG.13. 1914. 1,129,547. Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HARRY c. BUHOUP, or cnrcneo, rnulvors,

COUPLING CARRIER AND GENTECRING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Feb.- 23, 1915}.

Application filed August 13, 1914. Serial No. 856,607.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY C. BUHOUP, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful. Improvements in Coupler Carrier andCentering Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to the construction of a carrier iron and centeringdevice for supporting the forward end of a laterally movable car couplerand for normally maintaining such coupler in the longitudinal axis ofthe car to which it is applied.

My invention also contemplates the combination, with a coupler carrieriron and centralizing devices, of a hose carrier which is movable withthe coupler to thereby prevent the straining and breaking apart of thehose connections between cars when passing around a curve.

It is the object ofmy invention to provide simple devices which shalleiliciently.

effect the purposes indicated and which are not liable to becomeineffective even after a long period of service.

In its several aspects my invention, generally stated, involves acarrier member which is adapted to supportingly engage the shank of acar coupler and to permit lateral movement thereof, 'a' follower devicecomprising a plurality of separable arms which extend upwardly above thecoupler supporting portion of the carrier member and which are adaptedto engage the sides of the con plershank and to be movedlaterally bysaid shank, a hose carrier device which is movable, by said arms, andsprings which act upon the arms of the follower device, said couplercarrier member being provided with downwardly extending spring seats,and said springs being respectively interposed between said springseatsand the adjacent arms of the follower device.

in the drawings illustrating my invention, the scope, whereof is pointedout in the claims; Fi' re 1 is a view, partly in transverse' vertic'alsection and Partly in elevation, of a combined coupler carrierand-centering device with hosecarrying attachments embodying myinvention. a portion of thesill's; of a car being also 'shown for thepurpose of illustrating-the relation of my apparatusto the car to whichit is'applied Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but il1ustratingt-herelative positions assumed by the parts when the coupler is displacedlaterally from its central position; Fig. 3 is a plan view of thedevices shown in Figs. 1 and 2, portions of the hose carrier beingomitted; Fig. 4 is a vertical section (in the line 44, Fig. 1 Fig. 5 isa detail elevation of one of the separable arms of the follower deviceemployed in the construction illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4; Fig. 6is a view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical central section,illustrating a modified form of my invention; Fig; 7 is a view partly inelevation and partly in vertical central section, illustrating a furthermodification of my invention; Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on theline 88, Fig. 6; and, Fig. 9 is a vertical sectiontake'n on the line 99,Fig. 7.

In the drawings the center sills of the car are indicated at 1 and thecoupler at 2. The coupler 2 is illustrated as provided with ataperingshank for the purpose of showing that the carrier andcentralizing'd'evices involving my invention may be advantageouslyapplied to such a form of construction; but it isj-to be understood thatmy invent-ion is not limited in this respect.

Secured to the car, and preferably attached to the under sides'of thecenter sills 1 by means of suitable bolts or rivets 3, is a carrier ironhaving an upper member 4: which is adapted to supportingly engage theunder surface of the coupler shank 2, the said carrier iron being alsoprovided at its opposite ends with downwardly extending spring-seats '5-which are preferably integrallyunitedto the coupler supporting portion4' of the carrier iron and which maybe perforated to receive and permitthe sliding movement of a rod or bar 6 by which the air, steam andsignal hose pipes may be caused to move laterally with the coupleraswill hereinafter appear. The coupler engaging member of the'carrier ironis pref erabl'yslotted, as at 7, to receive the upwardly prOJectmgportions of separablearms or followers 8 wh'ichnre respectively adaptedto engage the opposite lateral faces of the shank of the coupler-2. Inorder to increase the strength o f 't he' carrier iron it ma'yfifdesired, befprovided with vertically extending flanges connecting thecoupler cal-fi er member with the spring seats ,5.

Movably mount'edwithtrespect to the car through. the eentralizin rieriron and projecting upwardly through the slotted member 4 thereof is afollower device which engages the opposite sides of the'coupler shank 2.This follower device is preferably formed as a pair of separable armsbetween which the coupler shank 2 is embraced, the inner face of theupwardlfy extending portion of each. arm being pre erably rounded, as at10, to minimize the possibility of the several parts of the devicebinding upon each other when the coupler 2 swings laterally as the carto which rier member 4 from below said carrier iron,

are retained in assembled position by reason of the fact that thehorizontally extending portions 11 of the arms are wider than the slot 7and also by reason of the fact that the slidable bar 6 of the hosecarrier device extends through the perforations in the downwardlyextending lugs 12 of the said arms.

Where, as is the case in the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5,inclusive, a hose carrier device is employed'in con unction with afollower device involving the use of" separable arms or members 8, itispreferred to provide the bar 6 of the hose carrier device with slots1% which receive cotters 15, the said cotters being desi ed to bear onone side against the outer aces of the corresponding lugs 1.2 and beingadapted to bear on the other side against corresponding adjacent washers16 upon which the respective springs 13 are seated. lit will be observedthat y this means the upper tions of the separablearms 8 are ena led toconstantly engage the sides of the taper" ing coupler shank 2 in all ofthe longitudinally displaced positions of the coupler, lost motionbetweenthe coupler shank and the coupler centralizing devices beingthereby obviated. The reciprocat bar "6 of the hose carrier 7 devicepreferably ends spr' 1-. s v 3.3 and through perforations int re. pen

I seats 5 of the carrier iron. Hose brackets or clamps 17 of any-desiredform-may be rigidly secured to. the 'ds of the bar 6.

The modified form ofconstruction shown in Figs. 6 and 8 of the drawingsillumrates a carrier and coupler centeringmech in which no provision smade for can the air brake or other hose to swinglater tegral memberhaving ent spring mas er ally with the coupler. In this form of con-=struction the carrier iron 18 is preferably provided at each side withdownwardly extending spring seats 19 having inwardly projecting lugs or,bosses 20 which are adapted to maintain the centralizing springs 21.

in assembled position when the device is in service. The couplerengaging portion of the carrier iron 19 is preferably provided with apluralit of alined slots 22 each of which is of en cient length topermit the separable arms 23 constitutingthe follower deviceto have thenecessary lateral movement corresponding to the maximum lateral Ydisplacement of the coupler shank 2. Eachv of the separable arms 23 isprovided with a downwardly extending 1 spring seat 24 which, like thespring seats 19 of the carrier iron, are preferably provided with lugsor projections 25 that enten-th interior of the corresponding springs 21to thereby maintain the latter in place. The separable arms 23, asshown, are preferably wider at the top than at the bottom and are inserted from above through the corresponding slots 22 of the carrier iron19. ,As will be readily appreciated from an inspection of Fig. 8, thewidened upper portions of the separable arms 23, prevent the latter.

from becoming, disassembled after the coupler 2 has been placed inposition.

Except that the follower device which engages the sides of the shank 2efthecouvpler is formed, as an inte al casting instead of beingcomprised o separable arms such as 8, themodified form of construe tionillustrated in Figs. 7 and. 9 of the drawings difiers but slightly fromthat shown in. Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, and heretofore described. Thecarrier iron, hosebracke'ts and centralizing springs employed in theconstruction shown in Figs. 7 precisely the same construction as thecorresponding parts illustrated in the principal figures of the drawingsand, accordingly, corresponding reference characters have been appliedthereto The followerdevice 26' is, however, preferably an in arms 2?which embrace the shank of th and 9 are of co fiiqpler .2 between them,such arms being su ciently narrow to permit them to be inserted throughthe slot 7 in the carrier iron.

lhe follower device 26 is preferably slotted to permit the passage of. arod or bar 28 to the "opposite ends of which the hose carrying hrackem17 are secured. Thecentralizing springs 13, bear upon spring seats 29-formed upon the oposlte faces of the fQl". lower device, whic latter ybe conven- From the foregoing description it will be understood thatwhen, inthe construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 55. inclus ve," thecouiently secured ,to the slidahle rod 28 of the hose cariier'devicebymeans of spin 30.;

pler 2 swings laterally as the car to which it is attached passes arounda curve, the follower device will execute a corresponding movement inthe same direction, one of the centralizing springs 13 being compressedand the other expanding as illustrated in Fig. 2. The brackets 17 of thehose carrier device will also be caused to move laterally with thecoupler, since the lateral movement of the latter at such time iscommunicated to the slidable bar 6 through one of the separable arms 8and the cotter which is in engagement therewith. When the car equippedwith this mechanism has-pas ed around a curve and'is running uponstraight track the force causing the lateral displacement of the coupler2 fromits normal posi a portion which is adapted to. supportingly tionceases to act and thereupon the expansion of that centralizing spring 13which has been compressed, acting through the appropriate washer 16,cotter 15 and arm 8 of'the igollower device, causes the coupler 2 to beeturned to normal position in the longitudinal axis of the car. Theexpansion of the centralizing spring 13 likewise causes a returnmovement of the hose carrier device, as will be readily understood.

The manner of operation of the modified forms of constructionillustrated in Figs.

6, 7, 8 and 9 of the drawings will be easily understood from theforegoing description of the mode of operation of the preferred form ofconstruction.

I claim:

1. A coupler carrier and centering device involvinga slotted carriermember having seats and the corresponding adjacent arm of the saidfollower device.

2. A coupler carrier andcentering device involving a slotted carriermember having a portion which .is adapted to supportingly engage thelower side and permit lateral movement of the shank of a coupler andalso having laterally disposed pendant spring seats, a follower deviceextending through the slotted carrier member and having separable armsextending upwardly above the coupler engaging portion of the saidcarrier member and being adapted to engage the sides of the coupler,said follower device also being adapted to engage the under side of thecoupler supporting portion of the carrier member, and springsrespectively interposed between one of said spring seats and thecorresponding adjacent arm of the said follower device.

3. A coupler carrier and-centering device involving a slotted carriermember which is adapted to supportingly engage the lower side and permitlateral movement of the shank of a car coupler, a follower device havingarms extending upwardly through the said slotted carrier member andbeing adapted to engage the sides of saidcoupler shank, a hose carrierdevice movably inounted on said coupler carrier member and movable bysaid follower device, and springs acting upon oppositesides of saidfollower device.

4. A coupler carrier and centering device involving a carrier memberwhich is adapted to supportingly engage the lower side and permitlateral movement of the shank of a car coupler and which is alsoprovided with spring seats, a follower device having a plurality ofseparable arms which are adapted to /engage the sides of said couplershank and to be moved laterally by said shank, a hose carrier'devicewhich is movable by said arms and which extends through ,and is slidablewith respect to said spring seats, and springs respectively interposedbetween one of said spring seats and the corresponding adjacent arm ofthe said follower device.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature,

in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY C. BUHOUP.

'- Witnesses:

HARRY W. STANNAnn, J osnrn SCHWARTZ.

